Saturday, July 19, 2014

J: You know what would be a great parody... The Cat Menagerie instead of The Glass Menagerie. I would read that.

M: By Kentucky Johnson.

J: Oh, that was good.

M: Right?!

J: So the same night we watched Big Nothing (and now we have to link it, goddammit)...

M: Links are hard.

J: Apparently! We also watched About Time, which was easily a better movie. We both found this charming, whimsical, and entirely worth watching.

M: It offended the part of me that likes things to be more realistic, but yes. It was nonetheless charming, if silly.

J: It did boast a decidedly surreal premise, but it was set beautifully within the premise of the modern-day world. And it had Rachel McAdams! I love Rachel McAdams. This was her second time travel movie.

[insert discussion on feminism and time travel here]

M: So about Bill Nighy. He... um...

J: I thought this was one of his more realistic roles. He was eccentric as usual, but much more of an anchor to the other characters than he has been in other films I've watched.

M: That is quite astute.

J: Astute is a great word.

Wow. Such rocks. So nostalgia.

M: [laughs] Agreed. I think my favorite part of this film was when it didn't end for the third time and there was a flashback and rocks were skipped and Matt sang a delightful song about skipping rocks in Cornwall.

J: I 100% completely forgot about Matt singing. In fact, I don't remember now. What I do remember are there several moments that I thought the movie was over, and surprise! It wasn't.

M: I'll sing you the song...

J: Do go on.

M: [sings] This is, again, why we need a podcast. "Skippin' rocks in Cornwall!" 'Cause it was when the dad went back in time and the kid went back in time and they were skipping rocks on the beach... a little too idyllic.

J: Right, that scene technically wasn't necessary. We had all the same feelings watching the earlier moments between Bill Nighy and his son.

M: Not his real son, of course. Does Bill Nighy have sons? I bet he has many illegitimate children. I don't know, maybe not. Maybe he's a devout Catholic, maybe not. Not that Catholics don't have illegitimate children... I'm going to stop talking now.

J: BWAB tackles religion. You might want to turn away...

M: I'm sorry, I've gone too far.

J: The main point that I want make is that this is a time travel movie that ends happily. Unlike The Time Traveler's Wife, which left me ugly-crying alone in my room.

M: Talk about double spoiler!

The infamous first meeting.

J: Whatever! It's been years now. If BWAB is the one teaching you about time travel movies, so be it. I will say that one of my favorite scenes was the main character and Rachel McAdams meeting for the first time in a pitch-black restaurant. I thought the dialogue was really perfect and representative of a first meeting.

M: But! As that moment is replaced due to the convenient use of time travel... well frankly, I don't think I got over that. It bothered me for the rest of the movie, because it was so sweet and perfect and then it technically didn't happen.

J: That's a really good point. That was the moment where I wondered which direction this movie was going to go. If it was a cheesy, feel-good film, they would find a way for the main characters to still meet. If this was meant to be a commentary on hubris and perfectionism, then perhaps the main character would have ended up alone.

M: Yes, I felt like his second or third efforts were never as charming or as genuine as the first. It kind of negates the entire film for me.

J: It's like you'd rather Rachel McAdams turn him down for his lack of sincerity than enjoy the fact that they should have been together from the beginning. Nevertheless, the movie persevered and you quickly learned that this was meant to be feel-good at best.

M: Right.

J: It was, honestly, a relief for me after the trauma of the previous film and my remembrance of The Time Traveler's Wife.

[two-hour conversation about life]

J: What did you think about Bill Nighy's role in this movie?

Stop it.

M: I feel like we've talked a lot about Bill Nighy.

J: He was the main British guy.

M: What was the kid? I mean, who was the kid?

[Wikipeda-ing ensues]

J: Whoa! He's Irish and he was Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. Not only that, his father played Mad-Eye Moody!

M: I don't feel like we can go anywhere from here. I feel like we've reached the... I mean... for this post in particular... we can't do better than that. BWAB as a whole will live on. Until forever. Or further notice.

J: So a million years ago, and by that I mean several weeks if not a couple months, we watched TWO movies in ONE night. I think we got a bit overwhelmed. And then sick. And then there was a holiday. What I'm trying to say is that BWAB is back!

M: All right!

J: We're going to do our best to review the two movies we watched, both of which were rented from Liberty Hall: Big Nothing and About Time.

[BWAB review plot of Big Nothing on Wikipedia]

What did you call us? Where are we?

J: This was a terrible movie!

M: We watched that. Everybody dies. Whoops, sorry, spoiler!

J: Doesn't matter. This movie featured David Schwimmer and Simon Pegg.

M: Aka Ross and, uh, Sargent Angel.

J: It was a doozy.

[conversation ensues]

J: We need a podcast.

M: We DO need a podcast!

J: The movie was set in Oregon of all places, but was filmed primarily in Wales and Canada. You could tell.

M: The Isle of Man! Which is neither Wales nor Canada.

J: I mean, but they were on the list on Wikipedia. Maybe "primarily" was a strong word. So mostly the Isle of Man. The point is, nowhere near Oregon. Except maybe Canada, which relatively speaking, is near Oregon, but still not Oregon.

I'm English, b*tches.

M: Details. I'm not sure why it needed to be set in Oregon in the first place.

J: No. And the houses, neighborhoods, etc. were clearly not American.

M: Wasn't Ross's wife foreign or something? She had an accent... was she French? She wasn't even American.

J: [checks Wikipedia] The actress is English, but did she have an accent?

M: She definitely had an accent, I just don't remember what sort.

J: Either way, this movie was 100% all over the place.

M: [nods]

No but seriously, we should steal something.

J: It had an interesting enough murder mystery plot.

M: Did it?!

J: It definitely felt like it wanted to be a heist movie.

M: That was an honest question, actually. I kind of fell asleep... Oh! But I do remember, we were watching it, and we thought, 'oh this is interesting,' and might be some sort of mystery plot, but then it turned into a heist movie and we were just sort of aghast.

J: Yes, that's right! It turned into just another poorly-constructed British, etc. heist movie. What were they stealing? Money?

M: Yes. They were blackmailing someone who wasn't home.

J: We remember loads about this movie. Someone needed money for medical bills and decided to make some less than savory decisions to get it? And David Schwimmer was, well David Schwimmer. Ross. I'm not sure he has any other characters.

M: It's true. So when are we going to get a podcast?

J: Is Radioshack out of business yet?

M: No, I think they're still there!

J: We definitely need to go buy an on-sale microphone. Soon.

Is this really another heist film?I'm afraid so.

M: Yes. I already feel sorry for the people that might hear us.

J: I'd like to say it will be their choice, but we definitely have some friends...

M: ...that we might guilt into listening.

J: I was thinking tie to a chair, but that's probably more normal.

M: So are we going to talk about the other movie now, or are we going to do a separate post?

J: Separate post. We owe it to the other movie.

M: Fair. Did we have anything else to say about this one?

J: Perhaps at the time? As far as I can tell, this was chosen for its awkward factor.

M: And location. At Liberty Hall.

J: Exactly. I don't particularly recommend it, if only because there are better movies out there you could be spending your time on. And Ross is annoying.

M: Stay tuned for a slightly better movie.

J: About Time!

STAY TUNED, DAMMIT!

***UPDATE***

J: I know that you were tuned, but I have to say, we got a really great comment on Facebook. Impressively great. And I feel utterly obligated to share it with you:

Esther SwansonDoesn't Simon Pegg attempt an American accent throughout that movie?
Yes, Esther, yes he does. And it was one of the first things Meredith and I both noticed, and one of the main things we wanted to point out in this post. Naturally, we forgot. So thank you! And readers, if you ever wanted to hear Simon Pegg adopt a god-awful but still funny American accent, this one's for you!

We can explain...

A hundred years ago, when we were in high school, we bonded over our mutual love of Irish culture. With a little hard work and one traumatizing Student Senate experience, The Irish American Club was born!

Though the club accomplished nothing more than holding a St. Patrick's Day bake sale (which funded some seriously rad t-shirts), we're back again for another try. This time, it's different (we swear!).

We recently spent a year studying beginning Irish Gaelic at the Irish Cultural Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We also both own laptops and enough expendable income to find and view plenty of movies. Then there's the matter of all the time we've discovered we have since graduating from college...

Bottom line: Blog with a Brogue is a chance for us, and you, to delve a little deeper into one of the things we find most fascinating about Irish (or any) culture: the accent. In this blog, we're featuring accents from the Atlantic Archipelago, which includes Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England.

Sit back, grab a pint of your favorite beverage (if it's in a pint glass, it counts), and enjoy!